Vajpayee rejects proposal to ban further nuclear tests

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee yesterday rejected a proposal for a ''no further conduct of nuclear tests'' agreement with Pakistan.

''Both countries have already declared a voluntary moratorium on
further nuclear testing,'' he said when a Pakistani journalist asked
whether India would agree to Pakistan's suggestion in this regard as
a confidence-building measure.

The prime minister's reply apparently implied that there was no
need for such an agreement after the moratorium.

When Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief was asked if he had proposed a no-first-use of nuclear weapons agreement, he said this would ''come up when dialogue takes place.''